Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:41:17 +0000 From: "Dave Cottlehuber" <dch@freebsd.org> To: Martin <iio7@protonmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: About the upcoming changes to pkgbase Message-ID: <a734d6b4-0105-4c89-bf8a-e0000f1bebaa@app.fastmail.com> In-Reply-To: <jRGVZY419OAIyqYXw9JLpXYYqsqCbChnrhZcd-QwSpw8_2qzJSphpZB0eErMqZOR5EAf3r6nTvC9YXWXprdebznqHT7-MudNSFQU8JJQPp8=@protonmail.com> References: <jRGVZY419OAIyqYXw9JLpXYYqsqCbChnrhZcd-QwSpw8_2qzJSphpZB0eErMqZOR5EAf3r6nTvC9YXWXprdebznqHT7-MudNSFQU8JJQPp8=@protonmail.com>
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On Fri, 10 Oct 2025, at 20:25, Martin wrote: > Regarding the upcoming change from freebsd-update to pkgbase, I have > two questions which I haven't been able to find a clear answer to, or > perhaps I have overlooked something. > > In the documentation[1] it says that pkgbase will replace tarball > distribution sets, such as base.txz or kernel.txz. Hi Martin TLDR don't worry they will be around for 15.0. Similar to the snapshots, this will line up for BETA1 (albeit under /releases/ not snapshots) https://download.freebsd.org/snapshots/amd64/15.0-ALPHA5/ This is the current deprecation plan for dist sets: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-current/2025-September/008918= .html This snippet answers most of your questions: 15.0-RELEASE: * PKGBASE becomes the default in release/Makefile and a new NOPKGBASE option is added. * The installer supports both install options, with dist sets marked as "legacy" in the pick-how-to-install menu. * The disc1 images only contain a pkgbase repo; people who want to insta= ll from disc1 without pkgbase will need an internet connection. * The dvd images contain both dist sets and a pkgbase repo suitable for offline installation with either mechanism. * Traditional FreeBSD Update will work for the entire 15.x branch, inclu= ding security updates, since this is relatively easy to do as long as we have= dist sets. * Work is underway to make freebsd-update behave as a wrapper around pkg= base on pkgbase-enabled systems (right now it just refuses to do anything). > It also seems that pkgbase is going to ruin one of the most loved > features of FreeBSD, the clean separation between the base system > and the third party packages? No. Even with pkgbase, packages are still just tarballs, you can go and see for yourself: https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:15:amd64/base_latest/ Just download one and unpack it. > Even though the pkgbase is going to reside on a separate repository, > which needs it own setup in pkg.conf, this is AFAIK not the same > clean separation. I've been actively using pkg base sets for the last few months, and while there were earlier issues, I think these have all been covered - development in both pkg, and CURRENT & STABLE/15 has been vigorous. `pkg upgrade -r FreeBSD-base` or `pkg upgrade -r FreeBSD-ports` should do the right thing. > Doing a "pkg WHATEVER" now always has the potential to either mess up > the base system or the third party packages. Like the documentation > says, > > "This step might remove non-base packages, which could include the > running desktop environment. Be careful." > > This does actually happen from time to time, pkg is removing installed > packages during an upgrade which it shouldn't remove and you have to > reinstall those packages manually afterwards. Let's see where we're at with 15.0 BETA1 and follow up any remaining bugs closely. It has been a fast & rough road to get to where we're at in the last months, but I am really pleased with using this in production already. Using pkgbase has allowed me to reduce the footprint of our production servers significantly, a win both for security and a disk space, and operationally it's a delight to upgrade systems with it, and build and run podman containers with it too. A+ Dave =E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94 O for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of inventio= n!
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